Everything - Rewrite
by Oo AdorablePiglet oO
Summary: Annabeth, pregnant with Percy and her's first child, unexpectedly dies after giving birth. Her mother, blinded with anger, disowns the child and Percy, upset, leaves, ending up in a car crash. He survives the crash but doesn't remember anything. Realizing that life goes on, he moves on, needing to be there for his child. However, unbeknownst to everyone, Annabeth is still alive.
1. Chapter 1

EVERYTHING

Introduction/Chapter 1

MARCH 20TH, 5:23 p.m.

Percy glanced down and was met with the sight of his hand, tightly enclosed within Annabeth's, both of which were turning an alarming shade of red. Assumedly reaching a momentary dispersion of pain, Annabeth released her grip on Percy's right hand, leaving him with a moment to inspect the tiny, red, crescent shaped incisions created by her fingernails.

Percy shook his hand out and looked down at his fiance in the hospital bed. Most of her curly, blonde hair had fallen out of her loose ponytail and was adhesed to her forehead with sweat.

"Jeez, Annabeth," Percy winced, showing her his injured hand.

Annabeth looked up at him and glowered, scarily, as if she was appalled that _Perseus Jackson_ had even the audacity to complain in such a situation. She opened her mouth, certainly in preparation to curse him out, but was cut off by a contraction.

From the right, Apollo, Percy's cousin and their trusted obstetrician entered the room.

"How's it going, guys," he asked as he entered, as one of the nurses adjusted Annabeth's IV.

"Pretty good," was Percy's automatic response, earning him not only a glare from his pregnant girlfriend but from her mother as well, who was supporting Annabeth from the other side of the bed.

Sensing the tension in the room, Apollo smiled awkwardly as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves and quickly dipped down to examine Annabeth's dilation. He wasn't down there for long before coming up and taking off his gloves. "How close are her contractions?"

A nurse quickly answered him, explaining that they were coming on fast and hard. She also passed him chart of trends from the past two hours they had been there.

Apollo sighed deeply and shook his head as he flipped through the pages. Percy felt his heart drop in his stomach as every bad thought and complication Annabeth had researched flooded his mind.

"What's wrong?" he asked carefully.

Apollo grimaced and turned to his fiance. "Annabeth, I'm going to strongly suggest we do a cesarean section."

Percy turned to look down at Annabeth quickly, his overgrown black hair hitting him in the face, reminding him that he needed a well overdue haircut. Percy knew how much she opposed having her body surgically operated on. She had done the research and she had weighed the pros and cons between a c-section and vaginal birth.

"I'm not having a c-section," she had said after a long time spent on her laptop, five-months pregnant. "Longer hospital stay, risk of infection, staples in your stomach-I just don't want that."

Now, in the present, Percy suspected that all of her research had scared her into thinking about all the things that could go wrong. "Why?" she asked Apollo bluntly, her pain apparently having melted away.

"Your blood pressure is off the charts," Apollo started. Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed it, the cool metal of her engagement ring making him shiver. "You're due date is, what? May 12th, 7 weeks away. And we've known for weeks now that you're suffering from preeclampsia. If that develops, Annabeth, into eclampsia, you could start to suffer seizures, you could slip into a coma…" he trailed off, but it was clear by the ominous feeling left in the room. She could die.

Annabeth wiped her forearm across her forehead. The fear was apparent in her eyes. "I just-"

Athena, Annabeth's strict, no-nonsense mother, cut her off sharply. "Annabeth, this is a matter of life or death! It's time for you to just have the damn c-section."

Annabeth winced and sunk further back into her hospital bed. Percy's eyebrows lowered as he tried to bite his tongue because he knew that's what Annabeth would want. He just simply couldn't _stand_ Athena. Since they were kids, Percy had been comforting Annabeth after every bad fight she had with her mother. In hindsight, Percy's premature association with Athena became based on what Annabeth told him about her after one of their fights-and those were never good things. Never the good things.

Finally, Percy turned towards Athena. "Not your body, not your choice," he told her bluntly, their eyes meeting.

Athena rolled her deep, grey eyes. "I wasn't asking for your opinion on abortion!" she snapped, her eyes turning another shade of grey all together, just as Annabeth's do. "This is my daughter's life we're talking about!"

Athena's hatred for Percy had been apparent for years. Athena had been okay with Percy and Annabeth together until she learned that Percy's father was Poseidon Olympian. Poseidon and Athena had been at each other's throats for years, for reasons that neither Percy or Annabeth truly understood. All that was apparent was that they have known each other for many years, had a falling out, and they haven't been able to stand each other since. That hatred seemed to automatically fall on Percy too.

"If you're daughter doesn't want a c-section then she doesn't have to have one!" Percy yelled at Athena. He knew Annabeth was scared and he knew she regretted all of the research she did about what could go wrong. Percy was sure every condition, every disease that could arise from a c-section, were swarming through her mind.

"She-" Athena was cut off by Annabeth yelling out in pain. Both Percy and Athena's building rage dispersed as they tended to Annabeth.

"Apollo," she said breathlessly, once her contraction passed. "Can we just try pushing for ten more minutes?" She paused to breathe. "And if that's not working, just do the c-section, okay?"

Apollo exchanged glances with the nurses before reluctantly agreeing. And although those ten minutes turned into an hour, Annabeth delivered their baby girl vaginally at 6:42 p.m. weighing in at 4 pounds at 7 ounces.

As the nurses took their daughter away Percy kissed Annabeth's forehead. "You did so good, Annabeth," he whispered pushing her hair off of her face. Annabeth smiled tiredly up at him and kissed him before looking around the room. "Where's my baby?" she asked.

"She's being cleaned up, Annabeth," her mother said tediously. Percy jumped slightly as he had forgotten Athena was there at all. Frowning, Annabeth nodded and eased into the hospital sheets. After what felt like ages, a nurse walked over happily, holding a small bundle of white. You would never know that a baby was in there if not for the loud crying coming from the blanket.

Annabeth reached out immediately, holding their child close to her chest. The sound of the clicks of a camera was the only thing that reminded them that their birth photographer had been in the room the whole time, hopefully capturing everything.

Tears sprung to Annabeth's eyes, her stormy grey colour identical to her mother's. Their baby continued to scream and cry as Annabeth prepared to feed their child for the first time. Percy slipped his finger into his baby girl's grasp, her little fingers immediately latching on. Underneath her pink cap was plenty of dark hair. Suddenly, the room began to fill with their friends and family. Annabeth's father, a tall blonde man steered in Annabeth's young twin brothers. Following them in was Bianca, Nico, Jason, and Thalia, Percy's cousins. Percy and his cousins had more or less grew up together which had forced them to all become close early on. Their fathers, notorious for their businesses, had been grooming their children to take over for years. This sort of lifestyle growing up was something unique to them and was something they all bonded over early on. Quietly, their family observed as the baby's cries died down as Annabeth breastfed their daughter. Jason, who was holding a video camera, zoomed in on the baby as their photographer continued to snap pictures.

Eventually, Annabeth passed their daughter to Percy who, of course, had Jason turn on the circle of life. Too exhausted to say no, Annabeth watched unamused as Percy lifted their child into the air, replicating the opening scene from The Lion King. Afterwards though, Percy sat down and held his daughter against his bare chest at the request of Annabeth who insisted that skin-to-skin contact would establish a bond between them. Finally passing his daughter to Bianca who had been eagerly anticipating holding her niece, Percy was approached by their photographer who explained that she had to go soon and wanted to show him the pictures before she left. Scrolling through the camera roll, a particular photo had caught Percy's eye. Annabeth holding their baby daughter with tears in her eyes as Percy kissed her forehead with his daughter grasping his finger. Percy felt a smile crouch onto his face as he showed the photo to Annabeth. Annabeth started to cry again as she looked at the photo.

"I love it so much," she sobbed. "Can you have all of them printed twice and sent to us each Lily?"

Their photographer nodded and quietly left the room.

After being held by everyone, their daughter made it back into Annabeth's arms.

"Just be careful, Annabeth," Apollo warned as he entered the room and picked up more chart information. "You've lost a lot of blood."

At twenty-two, Annabeth was quite young and complications arose when she couldn't dilate completely. Along with the preeclampsia she inherited from her mother, it was overall a difficult pregnancy. Looking back, would a c-section have been that bad? Maybe not, but Annabeth was relieved she had delivered naturally. Their baby girl's eyes opened gently revealing big grey eyes with swirls of green.

"Aww," Bianca cooed as the baby yawned.

"What are you going to name her?" Nico asked curiously.

"Well," Annabeth smiled weakly, handing the baby to Percy again. "Percy chose her first name, Olivia. And I agreed because it also comes from the Latin word for Olive tree."

Percy smiled and continued. "And Annabeth chose her middle name, Ariadne, because of, of course, Greek mythology. Ariadne was Greek mythological daughter of King Minos of Crete who aided Theseus to escape from the Cretan labyrinth after killing the Minotaur."

"So," Jason concluded, "Olivia Ariadne Jackson."

Percy nodded as he passed Olivia to Athena who didn't have the chance to hold her earlier.

"She's so light," Athena commented disapprovingly.

Annabeth glared at her. "She was 7 weeks premature and I was sick constantly," she said defensively, reaching for her daughter. "And maybe if I hadn't inherited preeclampsia from you, she could've been a regular weight."

Athena crossed her arms after Annabeth took Olivia back into her arms. "So you're gonna act like I purposely gave you something I can't control? Logical." Percy grimaced as he could see this was escalating.

"No, I'm gonna tell you to maybe put two and two together and stop judging my daughter for what she can't control."

"Well what you _could've_ controlled, Annabeth, is how much you ate," Athena shrugged.

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond but opted for a sigh instead.

Percy scowled, remembering that Annabeth had been depressed and pretty much stopped eating after her and her mother had gotten into a huge argument.

The thing is, Percy and Annabeth are both only twenty-two years old. He and Annabeth were both about to graduate from New York University in May and they had been dating on and off for years now. Percy was in on a swim scholarship that, frankly put, he didn't really need. Percy's father was a rich business owner that lives in California along with his cousins' dads. Pretty much all of their moms were in the same boat-they had a one night stand with the rich man. Except, in Thalia and Jason's case; they and their mom had lived with their dad in California for a couple of years and when Jason was around five and Thalia eight, they came back to New York.

Percy isn't sure exactly what Annabeth and Athena argued about, but he was sure it had to do with them and their future. Whatever was said, that argument was enough to make Annabeth cry for days, despite her not being a big crier believe it or not. Percy was sure it was the hormones. However, it was eerily similar to when Annabeth had slipped into a depression years before. Percy had to comfort her then and he comforted her again this time, grabbing and caressing her free hand.

He supposed this is why he was surprised when Annabeth absolutely insisted on having her mother in the delivery room. He simply couldn't wrap his mind around it. Why would you want the woman who berated you for years by your side while you're giving birth to your first child? As soon as that first contraction had hit, it was her mother she was crying out for. Percy couldn't deny her that despite his better judgement.

"Annabeth, honey, you look tired," Fredrick Chase commented, in a clear attempt to cut the tension in the room.

"Yeah, maybe you should get some rest, Annie," Thalia suggested. She was the only person that could call Annabeth 'Annie' without having a finger broken. Annabeth despised that nickname but tolerated it from a close friend like Thalia. "Olivia will still be here when you wake up."

Annabeth yawned and passed the baby to Percy. "Okay."

Percy was surprised. Annabeth didn't even put up a fight despite her non-stop quarrel against having a c-section. Quickly, Annabeth's steady breathing filled the room. Beside her, the heart monitor beeped steadily. Finally, Apollo took Olivia away to the NICU. As light chit-chat filled the room, Percy turned to Thalia. "Well, I should call my mom…"

Trailing off, he glanced at Annabeth. A frown settled into his face.

"Percy?" Thalia asked, putting a hand on his shoulder, garnering his attention. Her big blue eyes pierced into his. "What's wrong?"

Percy turned back to stare at Annabeth. Suddenly the room was silent. He couldn't breathe.

The heart monitor continued to beep.

Percy watched with concern as Annabeth's chest rose and fell.

Suddenly, everything around him blurred. He could only see Annabeth. He couldn't speak. He could only feel the eyes on him as he continued to stare.

Her chest was slowing.

He couldn't breathe.

Annabeth's father runs out of the room. Only the monotonous rhythm of the heart monitor was left.

Beep…beep…beep…beeeeeeeeeeeeep.

The note held.

He couldn't breathe.

Annabeth's chest fell for the last time.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

 **BIG AUTHOR'S NOTE, PLEASE READ AT LEAST UP TO THE ASTERISKS (***):**

 **Wow, would you look at that, I wrote something! For those of you that don't know this is actually a rewrite of a fanfiction that is already published on here. But I think that I wrote that when I was 12 or something like that, lol. I like the ideas but I don't like how it's written so I'm giving it another go!**

 **When I wrote this story the first time, I omitted a lot of things I actually wanted to include because I felt like it was too much or I didn't have enough knowledge or experience with it. Trigger warning, I wanted to write about self-harm involving one of the characters as well even though it's ooc. I just thought it would fit, and it does. If I do decide to go with that it won't be very prominent or anything, just a side detail and I will include a trigger warning! Um, just to reiterate, I have another account under the name TheBookWorm3 on this website too and I think I may post this story to Wattpad as well. Maybe even ao3? Do people use that? Idk lol.**

 **While this story is finished, I don't know if I would recommend reading the original if you haven't already because firstly, it's super cringy and secondly, I'm changing some of the plot. I mean, the first time I wrote this story there was no medical reasoning behind anything. But this time I did more research and I have, generally, a lot more knowledge on biology, chemistry and physics in general-not that that matters a lot, but I mean, I actually know how birth works in its entirety more or less. I could tell you all about hormones and what not. I thought about including the afterbirth in this story but, to be honest, I had no idea what that's like in real life. I mean, your baby is out and then like 15 minutes later it's like here comes the placenta? Idk. I am Canadian if you're wondering so I feel like, culturally, this story will be more "Canadian" than "American" not that there's a huge difference or that it's gonna take place in Canada. I guess I just mean spelling colour with a u. I don't know a lot of American restaurants like Dunkin Donuts or Sonic-never been there. Or whataburger I think it's called. That's what I mean by that, you know? Anyways, I'm getting off track. Oh, fun, random fact! I'm a scorpio and not that I'm a hard core believer in horscopes or anything like that, but back in the day, I was super petty about Olivia who was supposed to be a taurus which is my opposite. Her due date is on a significant day and couldn't be changed. So I made her premature and now she's a pisces. Which actually fits into the story now, but before I had just squashed it in.**

 **I have read every single Percy Jackson/ Heroes of Olympus book except the Blood of Olympus. Like I said before, my friend and I are petty and love Percy so much and didn't want to read a book where his perspective wasn't even shown. Nowadays, I would consider reading the book if I ever get around to it. Thank you so much for reading and like I said last time, this story is very interesting, at least I think so. And has a happy ending, I promise! Please leave a review if you liked or didn't like this chapter. Thank you! Till next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, glad to see you reading the second chapter lol. Anyways, tw: self-harm. It's mentioned in this chapter but is definitely just a side detail and it won't dominate the story in anyway. I have friends that have self-harmed (and I swear, there was a point at school where it was almost 'cool' to do it because all those people would get asked questions about it and they would act like celebrities it was so weird). Anyways, so while I have never self-harmed, I have seen others do it first hand and I have sort of helped people stop. Or at least that's what my 7th grade self thought. Not sure if I actually had a big impact though. I have also seen the aftermath. So again, it's included in this chapter but won't be talked about a lot after this chapter. Oh yeah, and there is also swearing. Sorry if you don't like that but I wanted to express real, raw emotion. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 2

Athena screamed. Actually screamed. It was the thing of horror movies. Percy only knew, not because he heard her scream, but because every single hair on his body flew up and stayed there.

He couldn't hear, his vision was going. It was as if he was lost in the depths of an olympic sized swimming pool at night time in a place he did not know.

Percy was shaken from his daze by Thalia violently grabbing his shoulders.

Was he screaming too?

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her usually static, electric blue eyes were washed over with concern.

Percy looked around the room. Chaos had ensued. People were running around, crying, staring. Alas, it was Athena who's emotions were the most intense.

Walking over she pushed Thalia's arms off of Percy. "Is _he_ okay? Are you fucking kidding me?" she screamed. The way these words fell from her mouth was raw.

Zero filter.

They came deep from her throat making them sound even more emotion filled than they would have otherwise.

Overall, this had to be the first time any of they had seen Athena so unhinged. Harshly, she pointed towards the hospital bed. "This just became my daughter's deathbed and you're asking _him_ if he's okay? Are you kidding me?" she asked again. She was at a point where she wasn't even speaking. She was screaming; she was screeching. Every single word produced hammered at Percy's chest.

For the first time ever, he truly felt for this woman.

Before Thalia's deadly look could turn into actions, Apollo came bounding into the room with two nurses behind him.

In the whirlwind of what was happening Percy could only catch statements such as "Code Blue" and "blood transfusion" before they began to wheel Annabeth out of the room.

Following the array of frantic hospital personnel, Percy thought back to a conversation he and Annabeth had had only a mere month ago.

"Hey," Annabeth had said, putting her book down. She and Percy were in bed, preparing to call it a night. Placing the book carefully on her nightstand and turning off the lamp, she turned her body towards him. Percy could see her eyes staring into his despite the darkness of the room.

She was about to ask a serious question. He knew. Otherwise, she wouldn't be studying his face so intently as if she was about to take an exam on every tiny detail.

Finally she asked, "If it came down to it, between me and the baby, who would you choose?"

Percy let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "You, obviously," he laughed. "Is that even a question?"

Annabeth punched him playfully and frowned. "It's a good question," she mumbled, crossing her arms.

Percy's face dropped.

As he had to quite often lately, he asked himself if this reaction was due to hormones or genuinity.

"Annabeth." He grabbed her hands, and turned towards her. "I would _always_ choose you. Are you actually upset about that?"

She leaned against the back of the bed frame as Percy dropped her hands. "I guess not."

"We can always make another baby," Percy explained carefully, pushing a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Can't make another you, though."

Annabeth looked up at him skeptically. "But if you really had that mentality, then, yes, you could make another me. Or my parents could make another me, I should say."

Percy rolled his eyes earning himself another punch.

"Listen," she started. "You can't make _this_ baby again. With these genes and this personality and this same exact smile..."

Percy smiled sadly. "Yeah, that's true. But nothing you say will ever change my choice, baby. Save a baby I've never even met over you? I would never do that."

Now, in the midst of all this hospital chaos, Percy realized that he may never get to make that choice.

Upon arriving in the ICU, everyone was asked to wait outside of the room. Athena immediately sat down in one of the seats provided in the waiting room. Percy, instead, opted to pace back and forth. He was pulling his hair out thinking about that conversation he and Annabeth had had. Finally he stopped and slid down the wall, landing on the cold floor.

Had he unintentionally chosen the baby over her?

Percy knew in his heart and in his mind that Annabeth should've had the damn C-section. He knew. But seeing Athena talk down to her daughter the way she did had clouded his judgement. So he told Annabeth to do what she wanted, maybe even encouraged her to not to have a C-section despite his better judgement. Just so he wouldn't let Athena gain the smug control over Annabeth she's always had and has always known how to get.

Now everyone's paying for it.

After what felt like hours and what very well could've been, they were allowed to enter the room. Apollo stood in the middle of the room. On the bed was Annabeth.

Was she moving? Breathing? Percy couldn't tell.

"I-" Apollo's voice cracked and he stopped.

Percy could feel his eyes welling up.

"I'm sorry," was all Apollo could manage. Percy's head dropped.

In his peripheral vision he could see Athena drop to the ground in the middle of the floor.

Percy, on the other hand, was numb. He couldn't move-he could barely process what had just been said.

It was only the wetness on his cheeks that told him he was crying.

Apollo tried to meet Percy's eye. "We tried reviving her and we were simply unable to. She died from the blood loss and-"

Athena cut him off as she suddenly got up from the ground. "This," she whispers, "is all your fault!" She pointed to Percy. "If you hadn't had knocked up my daughter, none of this would've ever happened. You killed my daughter!" Athena yelled. Her husband grabbed her by the arm as she flailed her arms wildly. "I wish she had never met you!" she screamed. The desperation in her voice was apparent. She needed something, someone to blame. Who else was a better target?

"I wish she had never let you become involved with her! And with your demon child! She should've had an abortion for goodness sake!" That statement earned her gasps from those in the room.

"Look at her now! She's dead!" She looked for something to kick, something to punch that wouldn't land her in a lawsuit. She needed to channel her anger. Giving up, she turned and sobbed heavily into her husband's chest. Frantically and mostly to herself, she spoke quietly. "He murdered my daughter."

The tears continued rush down Percy's cheeks. He closed his eyes. Murderer? He wasn't a murderer. Right? He didn't kill Annabeth. Right?

And then he said his earlier thought out loud.

"I should've told her to do the C-section," he said blankly. Everyone looked at him. He ran his hand through his hair. "I should've told her that I was wrong and that Athena was right and-"

"No." This time it was Jason grabbing Percy's shoulder and snapping him out of it. "This is not your fault, Percy," he said. "In any aspect."

Athena unravelled herself from her husband's husband's grasp, turning towards them. "Yes this is!" She came face to face with him. Tears were streaming down both of their faces.

Percy flinched as he prepared himself for the worst. Athena was brutal and he knew she wouldn't think twice about slapping him.

"Hey," Thalia yelled stepping in front of her cousin. "This isn't Percy's fault so back off. This was all an extremely unfortunate mess of an accident. And Olivia didn't ask to be born so don't you dare put any of the blame on her either. Nobody wanted Annabeth to die. Nobody anticipated asked for any of this. But why don't you take your head out of your ass for the first time in your life and think about the fact that Annabeth lives on in your granddaughter."

Percy watched Athena's face turn red. She was livid, he knew. Annabeth's face does-did- the same thing when she was extremely upset.

"Get out of here!" she screamed suddenly. It seemed like she couldn't string together anything better to say. "I never want to see any of you or that stupid baby ever again! She's no grandchild of mine."

"There's nothing you can do for Olivia not to be your granddaughter!" Bianca yelled.

Athena lowered her voice. "That child's birthday is my daughter's death date. I think that's more than enough criteria."

Walking over to the bed, Athena grabbed Annabeth's hand and threw something at Percy. It crashed onto the ground in front of him.

Percy looked down at the object, glanced up at Annabeth for what he figured would be the last time, and left the room.

As he distanced himself from the room he could hear Thalia yelling at Athena. She had always been like that. Fiercely defensive.

Sometimes he was grateful for her.

And sometimes she just said too much.

He knew this was going to be one of those instances.

In fact, he knew exactly what Thalia was saying to Athena.

He wanted to go back and tell her to stop but he couldn't face Annabeth's lifeless body in that bed. So he continued to walk forwards towards nowhere.

Behind him, he heard running footsteps approaching. He didn't know who it was but he started walking faster. He didn't know if he could talk to anyone without breaking.

"Percy, stop!"

It was Nico. Sighing heavily, he willed his feet to stop.

Nico caught up to him and leaned over breathing heavily. "Damn, you walk fast," he said between breathes.

Percy sighed. "Nico-"

He was cut off by Bianca, Nico's sister, approaching suddenly. Her hand was clutching a small object. The ring.

"Don't listen to her," Bianca said as she tried to push the ring into Percy's hand. Percy wouldn't take it. He couldn't. It was dead to him.

Nico and Bianca shared a quick glance Percy ignored.

Instead, he decided to confirm his suspicions. "What was Thalia saying when I left?"

Nico sighed heavily before answering. It was apparent that he didn't want to answer. "She was talking about how you helped Annabeth through what she went through," he explained. "She said...everything. As far as I know."

Percy clenched his fists. A lot of that was private. It was things that Annabeth didn't want her mother to know. Even in the grave.

"She knows Annabeth didn't want her mother knowing that," Percy finally said.

"Well Annabeth is dead so it shouldn't matter either way. Athena deserves to know what kind of scumbag she really is," Nico said bluntly. "Athena was really dragging your name through the mud Percy. It wasn't cool."

"And after you left she was acting so high and mighty like her one suggestion for Annabeth to have a C-section made her the best mother in the world," Bianca added. "Thalia wanted her to know otherwise and now she does."

Down the hall Thalia and Jason were coming their way. Percy didn't even have to say anything before Thalia started defending herself. His facial expression must've given it away.

"Percy, that was for the best," she said simply. "And this is going to sound cliche, but one day you're really going to thank me because-"

"Hey, guys!" From down the hall approached Piper, Jason's girlfriend. With her was Hazel, Nico and Bianca's half-sister, and Hazel's boyfriend Frank. Leo, a close friend, walked behind them. Piper greeted Jason with a kiss before wrapping an arm around him.

Hazel surveyed the scene with concern. "God Percy, you look like you haven't slept in days. What happened?"

"Annabeth died giving birth to Olivia," Percy said bluntly. Jaws dropped.

"Oh my God." Hazel wrapped Percy into a tight hug. Percy dropped his shoulders and hugged Hazel back. There was always something about Hazel that had been oddly comforting.

"Athena flipped out." Percy could vaguely hear Bianca continuing the story. "And to top it all off," Bianca finished a few minutes later, "Athena threw this at Percy." Digging into her jacket pocket, showing the engagement ring.

Piper made a strangled sound. "The ring?"

Percy shrugged. "I'm going to the pediatric ward," he muttered, walking off in a random direction.

Athena sat by her husband in a chair near their daughter's body. She couldn't stop crying. All she could feel was her husband stroking her hand, comforting her after all that had happened.

"Fredrick," she said quietly. "Did you know?"

He looked down at their intertwined hands. "Know what?"

"That Annabeth..." she gestured to her wrists.

A pause. Then, "Not necessarily."

Athena's brow burrowed. "What do you mean not necessarily?" she demanded. A feeling of betrayal washed over her. Athena hadn't had known so for Frederick to have known, he had to have kept it from her for who knows how long. Why would he keep it from her?

"I saw her scars one day and I asked her about it one day, okay?" Frederick said suddenly. Athena jumped. "And she begged and cried and made me promise not to tell you and I kept that promise to my child and that was that."

"And how long ago was this?" Athena demanded, her eyes welling up with tears.

No answer. Athena pushed his shoulder. "How long ago, Frederick?" she asked, her voice rising in volume.

Her chest was burning and her throat was burning. Every word pained her to say; her earlier act had left her throat scratched raw. The lump in the back of her throat had been there for what felt like hours.

She was in so much pain.

She just watched her firstborn die. And now she's being told that Annabeth self-harmed. _Because of her._

"Eight years," he finally said.

Athena leaned into her seat. "Eight years ago. She was fourteen."

They sat in the silence. She was only fourteen Athena thought. She was just a baby back then. She still was. Her baby. Athena could barely process that. She wanted to cry all over again but she had no tears left to shed.

She heard her husband take a shaky breath. "Eight years ago, it was the middle of summer and Annabeth came down wearing a sweater like she always did despite the heat. I always figured she was just always cold. My mother was the same way." He paused. "I was in the kitchen making dinner and you were out with the boys-they were only six at the time. Anyways, I said, 'Anna, do you wanna help me make dinner?' and she said yes. So I told her to roll up her sleeves and wash her hands." His voice cracked. "And she did."

Athena closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers around the arm rests of the chair. "Then what happened?" she asked, leaving her eyes shut.

"Her arms were covered in scratches and cuts and they were red and swollen." He stopped to clear his throat. His voice barely sounded like him. He sounded like a shell of a person. Athena had never heard that from him before. "And I could just imagine the sound I made because all of a sudden her sleeves were down and she tried to run out of the kitchen. But I grabbed her-by the arm of all places-and I pulled her back.

"She was crying and she couldn't even look at me. I said 'Annabeth, what happened?' And she just cried harder. But finally she told me that she cut herself after you had argued with her the week before. And at first I thought to myself," he said tearing up, "we can fix this. This is new. These are the early stages. We can recover."

"But she had been wearing sleeves since she was thirteen," Athena said dumbly.

Frederick nodded. "And we sat down at the dining room table and I pulled her onto my lap and she just cried and cried into my chest. And I just kept telling her that I loved her and that she couldn't be doing this. And she just kept on saying okay and she begged me not to tell you. And I said okay. And we dealt with it. And she got better-at least I thought. I never knew Percy had such a big part in it."

"Why me?" Athena wondered, burying her head in her hands. "She argued with you _all_ the time, but she only would cut herself after an argument with me?"

Frederick wrapped an arm around his wife. "Annabeth has _always_ valued your opinion way over anyone else's. She always, always wanted your approval on everything ever since she was little. You had a lot of power over her, Athena. I don't know what else to say."

Annabeth's relationship with her mother had always felt like a cat trying to reach a toy dangling right in front of its face just for it to be yanked away right when its on the verge of catching it. When Annabeth and her mother were on the same page, it was like nothing could stop them. They were an unbeatable force. And when they weren't...it was like the collision of an electron and positron.

Annihilation.

No one won.

A nurse quietly entered the room. Athena watched her discreetly look down at a frayed cord. "Oh," she said quietly to herself, picking up the cord. Fidgeting with it, her face suddenly turned sheet white.

"What?" Athena exclaimed. "What is it?"

The nurse, flabbergasted, excused herself from the room and all but ran out.

Athena felt her stomach flip. She looked up at her husband who's jaw had dropped.

He heard it too. She wasn't crazy.

The heart monitor was producing a steady beep.

Annabeth was alive.

Percy entered the neonatal ICU ward. He scanned the babies before finally finding Olivia in one of the incubators sleeping. He placed his hand onto the incubator and admired his baby girl. And for a minute, everything was okay. The pounding thoughts about Annabeth dying that had been stuck in the back of his mind faded away. He knew Olivia had to stay longer but he just wanted to go home with her and sleep and cry and lose himself in oblivion.

But he knew he couldn't do that. So he took one last look at his girl before exiting. Outside of the room, his cousins and friends were waiting for him.

They had been hovering over him like a hawk. Like he was going to turn around and stab himself as soon as they weren't looking.

He tried to ignore their invasiveness as he headed towards the exit.

As he pulled out his car keys, Jason began to walk directly beside him. "It's pretty late man," he said.

Percy reached his car and unlocked it. "Yeah," he said. "It is." He took a glance at his watch. It was nearing one in the morning. It had been almost 6 hours since Olivia had been born. Time had flown by. Percy glanced sadly at the car seat strapped in the back of his car before getting behind the wheel.

"So we'll see you at your mom's then?" Thalia asked him through the open door.

"I guess."

"Okay."

Percy shut the door.

Through the window, he watched them separate into two different cars nearby as he slowly pulled out of the parking lot.

As he drove down the highway in silence he tried to keep his thoughts at bay. Through the rearview mirror he could see the others not too far behind. They were following him. Percy rolled his eyes.

He wasn't a lunatic and he could drive himself home without being monitored. Yawning, he looked down and fumbled with the radio stations.

A honk from behind him suddenly made him jerk his head up. All he could see on the dark road were headlights coming straight towards him. Desperately, he sharply turned the wheel to the right veering off road. He could feel the car flip. The airbag deployed. He tried to hit the breaks but of course that did nothing. The windshield shattered. He could feel himself bleeding. He was hurting. The car flipped again. Finally the car was stopped by wrapping itself around a large tree.

Percy tried to open his eyes but blood wouldn't stop entering them. With his hands still on the wheel he tried to focus on his breathing. Every breath hurt.

Suddenly he felt hands on his face.

"Percy?"

He barely recognized the voice. Squinting, he opened his eyes slightly.

"Thalia," he tried to say. He wasn't sure if the words had come out.

The door had been opened and standing beside him was Thalia. She was covered in blood. His blood? he wondered. Dazed and weak, he closed his eyes again.

"Oh God Percy," Thalia muttered. She sounded so scared. Thalia was never scared. Percy knew everything about Thalia. They had always been close.

But he did not know that she was capable of being scared.

Vulnerable, yes. But scared? Never.

"They're calling 911, Percy, just stay with me okay?" He felt her lift her hands from his cheeks. "Percy you were drifting into oncoming traffic and my honk must've woken you up or something because all of a sudden you were rolling down a hill. I love you Percy but sometimes you need to let other people help you." She paused and then said, "I hope you're hearing this."

Beside Thalia another frantic voice came. "Now is not the time for a lecture, Thalia. We need to figure out what to do. Take him out of the car? Take off the seatbelt? Can we even touch him or will that paralyze him?"

Percy knew that voice. That was Jason.

"If Percy dies Olivia will be orphaned," someone said through tears. Hazel. "And what about Sally? She'll be devastated."

"Percy's not gonna die, Haze," Jason reassured. "Listen, here comes the sirens."

"Everything is gonna be okay, Percy."

That was the last thing he heard before he blacked out.

 **Hey guys sorry it's been a while! I actually have two summer jobs so I'm busy 24/7. At night I work on this fic until 4 in the morning usually lol. Quick short author's note, thank you for reading! I wrote this on my phone instead of my laptop so I apologize for any mistakes or anything weird with the formatting. I wanna give a big thank you to everyone who is following and favorited this story! And to the commenters. Thank you guys I appreciate you loads and I respond to every comment that I can (which requires an account). This chapter actually took me so long to write, idk why. Hopefully it delivered. I wanna give a big shout out to the user Henrie James Locker who explained a lot of medical things to me in an effort to make this story more realistic. Thank you! Anyways, hopefully the next chapter will come quicker. Thanks for reading guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, sorry this is so late coming. I think this is really long however. Definitely not my best I wrote it all on my phone on the bus to uni, sorry.**

Chapter 3

Athena paced the room with clenched fists. "I swear I'm going to sue this hospital for everything," she said to no one in particular. She, Fredrick and the boys had been relocated out of the ICU back into a regular hospital room. There, Annabeth had been hooked up to the heart monitor which, for the record, communicated a perfectly audible heartbeat.

 _Apparently,_ the hospital equipment had failed. Or a wire had been chewed through. Something. It didn't matter. All Athena knew was that she was livid.

A frightened looking nurse in the room rocked on her heels and looked to her right. Beside her, one of the assisting doctors in Annabeth's "failed" resuscitation stammered to explain. "The failure of hospital equipment is extremely rare, Mrs. Chase. A-and your anger is extremely valid and expected." He paused, scratching his head. "I have to say, I'm flabbergasted. In my 13 years of practice I have never encountered the failure of hospital equipment. I've spoken to the owner of the hospital as well as the mechanic who have both wanted me to let you know that we have launched an investigation but our initial suspicions are that maintenance of that particular machine was not up to standard and for that there will be consequences."

From behind her Frederick _finally_ piped up. "We could've buried our daughter _alive_ and I really don't think you realize that," he said evenly. Frederick didn't show anger often. And to the untrained ear, he sounded nonchalant, even. But Athena knew better.

He was just as upset as her.

"A lot of things went down because of your mistake and a lot of those things we can never come back from."

The nurse and the doctor both stood there solemnly. But underneath that they both looked terrified. Glancing up at her husband, Athena could see his anger melting away.

 _Well hers wasn't._

"I just think," she started slowly, "that it is despicable that no one in that room saw or noticed anything." She started counting on her fingers. "No one noticed her chest moving or a pulse or the frayed cords or anything? Just pronounced her dead because you could?"

The nurse tried to speak but Athena quickly cut her off. "No! I'm suing this hospital for emotional distress and reckless endangerment and any other charges I can get my hands on and that's that."

From behind, her husband grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. "Frederick, please don't try to talk me out of this right now," Athena groaned as he pulled her away.

"Listen," he whispered, turning her back to the nurse and pulling her in. "This hospital has done a lot for us and the community."

"Frederick!" she snapped. "We don't even live here!"

He sighed. She could tell he was tired. "These nurses stand on their feet the whole damn day and are doing the best they can. They went to school for this. And we want them to lose their jobs?"

"Yes."

"No." He sighed again. "We don't need the money from a lawsuit but they do."

"It's not about the money, Frederick!" she whispered. "This whole situation was as of a result of carelessness! Shouldn't they have people checking this stuff? What if this happens to someone else?"

"Exactly," he nodded. "How about we ensure this never happens again. Instead of ruining however many innocent lives for ruining our lives let's make other lives better. It's not their fault the hospital equipment failed. At the end of the day they were just doing their jobs. Maybe they could've done better but what's done is done." He intertwined their fingers. "Listen. What if they have kids? Or they're the breadwinner of their family?"

Athena groaned. He was _such_ a humanitarian. She glanced at her daughter. Annabeth would say the same thing.

At least she was alive now.

"Fine." She put her hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine, fine, but best believe I will be having a long talk with whoever owns this hospital."

He smiled. "I wouldn't have expected any less."

Hours had passed. Doctors and nurses had come and go.

Athena and Frederick had been told that Annabeth was in a coma and would likely suffer from amnesia. They didn't know when she would wake up. Could be days. Or weeks...Or months. They had decided to wait a couple hours and see if she'd wake up.

Now, Athena sat in one of the armless chairs. On either side of her sat Bobby and Matthew, both with their heads in her lap, sleeping. At this point it was almost sunrise.

Frederick who was slumped over in another chair on the other side of Annabeth's bed yawned and slowly opened his eyes.

Observing his wife's tired eyes, he suggested they all head back to the hotel.

Agreeing, Athena reached to wake the boys when Frederick suddenly said, "When should we call Percy?"

Athena froze. "I forgot about that."

She grimaced. She figured apologies would have to be exchanged and statements would have to be clarified. It sounded torturous.

The last 24 hours had been such an overwhelming whirlwind of emotions already. Better yet, the last few weeks was enough drama for her for a lifetime.

Athena had come to New York weeks ago to be with her daughter. And then they had that explosive fight and she went and got her own hotel room.

As a surprise, Frederick had brought Bobby and Matthew out from California to see their sister during their spring break.

Later, Athena, Frederick and the boys had been eating lunch together when Percy, definitely begrudgingly, called and said that Annabeth wanted her. Athena knew they were both surprised but she showed up anyways.

It was chance that the whole family was able to be there for the birth.

Now, Frederick was babbling about how it would be _best_ for everyone to tell Percy right away and how _everyone_ would be so happy when Athena suddenly cut him off.

"We can't tell Percy!" she exclaimed.

He looked at her like she was crazy. And maybe she was but if they could pull off what she was thinking, it would truly be in everyone's best interest.

"And why is that?" Frederick asked cautiously.

"The bet," she whispered with telling eyes.

Frederick narrowed his eyes. "The bet?" he asked. She waited for him to understand. Suddenly, his eyes widened and Athena nodded.

"If we can keep this to ourselves we can avoid Ara-"

"Mom?"

To her left, Bobby began to sit up and stretch.

Frederick and Athena shared a quick look before Frederick announced that they were going to head back to their hotel. As they left, Athena glanced back at Annabeth's still body quickly before quietly leaving the room.

Thalia could barely remember a time where she hadn't known Annabeth.

Although she wasn't showing it, her heart hurt.

Even though Annabeth was only a year younger than her, she thought of her as her little sister that needed to be protected.

Annabeth and Thalia had met way back in elementary school when they both still lived in California. Thalia's dad and Annabeth's parents knew each other so they were often at each other's houses. Later, when Thalia moved away with her brother to the east coast to stay with their mom, they still managed to stay in touch.

In a weird way, Thalia was grateful Athena was a bitch. It gave her something to do, something to think about other than the pain she was feeling those moments after Annabeth's death.

However, now, seeing Percy hooked up to machines just like Annabeth had been increased her pain by tenfold.

She couldn't help but feel like there was more that she could have done. They all saw the state he was in. The mother of his child just _died,_ he blamed himself for it and they still let him get behind the wheel? Witnessing that crash was one of the worst memories Thalia would never forget.

She put her head in her hands as she replayed what she saw. She had honked the horn as soon as she saw him drifting. What else could she have done in those moments?

Her eyes began to burn with oncoming tears.

 _Was she really going to lose two of her best friends in two days?_

She wasn't sure if she could handle it.

She leaned her head back, willing her tears to recede before surveying the room. Her brother Jason and his girlfriend Piper were on the ground against the wall, both sleeping. Hazel and Frank sat near them in two chairs also sleeping. Leo, Nico and Bianca had gone out to get some food.

Thalia was the only one left in the room that was awake.

She was alone with just her thoughts.

It sucked.

Glancing at her phone, she checked the time.

 _5:46 am_

Suddenly, Sally, Percy's mother, burst into the room. Behind her trailed in Paul, her husband and Percy's step-dad.

Thalia stood up.

Sally looked...distressed. That's the only word she could think of to describe it.

Her hair was messy and her eyes were red. She had even come in her pajamas. Taking one glance at Percy's broken body in the hospital bed was enough to cause her to burst into tears.

As her knees buckled Thalia immediately walked over and embraced her, holding her up in the process. A minute later, as Sally pulled away, the doctor entered.

Thalia immediately recognized him as Apollo's son, Will. He observed the room sadly. He knew Percy like a brother. Thalia could tell this was hard for him too.

"Will," Sally said quietly, one arm around Thalia. "Could you please update me on Percy?"

Her voice sounded as though it came from a shell of a person.

Will flipped through a few papers, averting his eyes. Thalia's heart dropped. She didn't know much either.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," he started. Sally nodded. "I know there were some witnesses, and I'm sure we can go over the specifics later but just to inform you, more or less, I'll just brief you with this. He suffered quite a few injuries. He has a concussion from the car flipping over. The collision with the tree stopped the car, which may have saved his life. However, it did cause major damage as the car wrapped around the tree. The shattered windshield cause several incisions to the neck and face area and also broke his nose. On top of that he broke his left leg and four ribs, punctured a lung-"

"Stop," Thalia said suddenly. Sally turned towards her and Will looked up. "You're listing all of that off like it's nothing."

Will glanced at Sally before looking back to Thalia. "She asked for an update," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. I was trying to be Frank with you."

Thalia could feel tears threatening to fall. "Why don't you just answer me this: Is Percy going to be okay or not?"

Will hesitated. Thalia could feel Sally's grasp tighten. "He _could_ make a full recovery," he started slowly. "But the injuries suffered were extensive. Luckily, his central nervous system seems to be in good shape. However, if he wakes up from this coma, he'll likely suffer from amnesia and will have to undergo physical therapy before he comes even close to being the way he was before."

" _If_ he wakes up," Sally whispered. She took a deep, shaky breath. "Excuse me," she said as she left the room.

They watched her go.

Athena told Frederick and the boys to go on without her and that she'd meet them in the car. Her husband gave her a skeptical look but decided not to push it as he turned down a hallway with the boys. Once out of sight, Athena approached a nurse and asked him for directions.

With that in mind, she took the elevator to a different floor and arrived at the pediatric intensive care unit. Taking a deep breath, she blended in with the other visiting families in the hospital as she walked down the hallway. Finally, she arrived at the room. Inside were rows of babies in incubators and a nurse attending to and watching the babies.

She looked up as Athena timidly entered the room.

"Hello," the nurse said.

Athena smiled nervously and said hello back.

"Can I help you?"

She shook her head. "I'm just-" she cleared her throat. "I'm just here to say goodbye to my granddaughter before I go."

The nurse nodded and Athena slowly observed the babies before her eyes landed on Olivia who was asleep peacefully.

"You can go ahead and hold her," the nurse said quietly. Athena nodded slowly and carefully lifted Olivia out of her incubator.

The nurse smiled as Athena sat down in a chair and slowly rocked the baby girl back and forth.

Olivia opened her eyes and started to cry.

Athena must've looked alarmed because the nurse put a hand on her shoulder and suggested that she was just hungry.

She began to make a bottle. "We're a bit short on breast milk today," she said, attempting small talk.

Athena looked over. "Breast milk?" she asked.

The nurse walked over with a bottle. "Donated," she answered. She held out the bottle. "Would you like to feed her?"

Athena stood. "I would love to but my husband is waiting for me," she said, glancing at Olivia. She whispered to her before kissing her gently on the forehead and passing her back to the nurse.

"Oh," the nurse said. She looked taken aback as she adjusted Olivia in her arms. "Well, I hope to see you again."

Athena smiled as she headed for the exit. "Me too," she said, before slipping out of the door.

As she headed out, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she saw a familiar figure hunched against the wall, sobbing.

Athena's heart dropped. It was Sally. Had something happened to Percy?

She glanced back at the PICU momentarily. She had to know.

Slowly, she approached Sally, sat down next to her, and rubbed her back.

Sally looked up at the touch.

"Are you okay?" Athena asked gently.

She maintained a small distance, however. Her and Sally had always had an okay relationship. Just that. However, she didn't know how Sally felt about her now or how much she knew.

Sally wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I don't know," she said. "My son is in a hospital bed in a coma probably good as dead."

Athena's eyes widened. "What happened?"

"Car crash," Sally replied bluntly. "Apparently he was upset and tried to leave the hospital but was distracted-" she sighed. "I don't know, I don't know."

"I know how you feel right now," Athena murmured, getting closer to Sally.

Sally looked up at her inquisitively. All of a sudden she asked about Annabeth.

So no one had told her.

"She died giving birth last night," Athena said.

 _And now she was alive._

She frowned as she went on. "Except I was screaming and crying and blaming everybody when I should've been blaming myself." Upon her sudden realization, she met Sally's eyes. "When Percy wakes up, tell him I'm sorry. For everything." She began to stand.

Sally looked up at her. "Sorry for what?" she asked, as she got up from the ground.

Athena smiled sadly at her. "He'll know."

She hugged Sally tightly before hurrying off to meet with her husband.  
 _That hug was her millionth goodbye of the day._

"Amnesia?" someone exclaimed.

At this point, everyone was awake and back in the room. Sally had come back into the room looking slightly dismayed, but better in a way. Thalia figured that some time to herself to collect her thoughts had helped.

"Yes, amnesia," Thalia replied. "He won't remember things that he's not reminded of as far as I know."

"That's not the worst thing that could happen in this situation," Piper shrugged.

Jason rose his eyebrows from beside her. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Think about it this way," she stated. "He doesnt remember the crash, he doesnt remember Annabeth dying, he doesnt remember Athena blaming him, etc."

Nico nodded. "That's actually not a bad idea," he said. "If we can keep that stuff to ourselves, he won't be as depressed as he was-what 8 hours ago?"

As everyone began to ponder the idea, Paul shook his head from the corner of the room beside Sally. "Aside from the fact that that is _literally_ crazy, it won't work. A lot of those memories are going to become suppressed meaning that, sure, if you don't mention Athena yelling at him specifically he won't remember that event but as soon as you mention Athena, in general, or Annabeth in general, or whoever, those memories _will_ come back because they are recently associated with those people."

"Then we don't mention Annabeth or her family," Bianca quickly suggested.

Some seemed to think about the suggestion while others looked shocked. "You want to literally erase the mother of his child from his memories?" Frank asked with wide eyes. "I'm assuming that will be pretty damn difficult."

"Difficult, but not impossible," Thalia said. She turned towards Sally. "It's not up to us to decide that, however. What do you think?"

Sally looked more confused than anything. "Okay I'm going to need everyone to slow down and tell me what actually happened. All I know is that Annabeth died. Is that what was distracting Percy?"

Thalia shook her head. "It was much more than that."

Over the course of the next few minutes, they took turns describing what happened. At the end of it, Sally only looked sad.

"Poor Athena," she sighed.

Thalia's jaw dropped. "Poor Athena?" she gaped. "Sally, I cannot physically describe to you the screeching and screaming act that played out after Annabeth died. There should be zero sympathy for her in this situation."

Sally sighed. "When you guys have kids you will know how awful it would feel to watch one of them die." Her eyes landed on Percy. "Or be close to death." She glanced around the room as she spoke. "I would have most certainly screamed and cried if I had arrived at the hospital and Percy was dead, especially because I was not expecting that. Yes, she shouldn't have blamed Percy and I was upset at that. And yes she said some crude things but so did you guys. At the end of the day, Annabeth died as of a result of many factors. Now I know what Athena meant when she said she was sorry and I forgive her." Before anyone could ask her what she meant by that she moved on. "Everything surrounding Annabeth's death caused the car crash, right?"

Hazel nodded. "He was really upset."

Sally sighed. "Then let's do it." From beside her Frederick looked surprised.

Bianca's face had lit up. "We're doing it?"

"We're going to try it," Sally confirmed, looking at Frederick. "For Percy's sake."

Thalia smiled. For the first time the day, she really felt as though Percy was going to be okay. Everyone in this room had manifested this.

Finally, everyone agreed to go home and get some much deserved rest. As everyone left the room, Thalia noticed Sally lingering near Percy's bed. She gently caressed his bruised and broken face.

Thalia walked up to her quietly. "Do you want me to take you to see Olivia?" she asked gently.

Sally smiled as she stood up straight. "Of course."

Thalia took Sally and Paul to the PICU. The room was empty of adults except for a single nurse that sat in a rocking chair, gently rocking a baby to sleep.

She smiled at them as they quietly entered the room. Standing, she placed the baby she was attending to back into it's inqubator.

"Which baby are you all here for?" she asked.

Sally's eyes swept across the room. "I'm here to meet my granddaughter, Olivia."

The nurse nodded and directed her towards Olivia. She was wide awake.

Sally reached in and picked her up gently, immediately holding her close. Paul stood beside her as they both peered down at the child.

"Miss Olivia has been very popular today," the nurse hummed as she tended to another baby.

Thalia glanced at the nurse from her spot near the dorway. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

The nurse seemed to sense her unease. "Both grandmas got to see her today," she said reassuringly.

Sally turned with Olivia still in her arms. "Both grandmas?"

The nurse observed their confused faces with concern. "A tall-ish woman with dark hair and grey eyes came to see her."

Thalia rose her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Sally. "Why in the world would Athena come to see Olivia?"

The nurse looked confused. "That was her grandma though, right?"

Thalia nodded.

The nurse sighed and then went on to explain. "She said she was saying goodbye."

Thalia scrunched her nose. "Did she spit on her?" she asked wildly.

The nurse laughed and then realized Thalia was serious. "No!" she exclaimed. "Listen I've seen a lot of people look at babies. I know what love looks like. And there was love."

"Athena said she never wanted to see 'that baby' again," Thalia murmured to herself. "Are you sure she didn't spit on her?"

The nurse shook her head, laughing again. "She said goodbye and she kissed her and when she left she truly looked like she was going to cry."

Thalia looked at the ground. Why would Athena do that?

Sally shrugged as she looked at the bundle in her arms. "I guess she truly loved her."

 **Hope you enjoyed.**


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